In a known assembly for moving a carriage, the assembly comprises a carriage beam, which is arranged for supporting the carriage. The carriage beam extends along a longitudinal direction. The carriage is moveably arranged along the carriage beam in the longitudinal direction. The assembly further comprises a cable carrier for supporting a cable. The cable carrier is attached to the carriage, such as being attached to the carriage at a first end of the cable carrier. In examples, the cable may comprise a wire for communicating electrical power and/or electrical signals towards the carriage and may comprise a tube for communicating a fluid or a gas towards the carriage.
The cable carrier comprises a plurality of carrier segments distributed along a length of the cable carrier. The plurality of carrier segments provides flexibility to the cable carrier along its length such that the cable carrier may move together with the carriage, while the carriage moves along the carriage beam. The cable carrier moves along with the carriage by bending in a looping shape.
The cable carrier is partly supported by an elongated support plate. While the carriage moves along the carriage beam, the cable carrier is in rolling contact to the elongated support plate along a track, which is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction of the carriage beam. The elongated support plate, the carriage beam or both are fixed to a frame.
When the cable carrier rolls on the elongated support plate along the track, the plurality of carrier segments contacting the support plate generate a dynamic vibration inside the cable carrier and inside the elongated support plate. The dynamic vibrations may propagate towards the carriage via the cable carrier and/or from the support plate via the frame and the carriage beam. As a consequence the position of the carriage is disturbed by the dynamic vibrations.
This is especially disadvantageous in case a processing unit is mounted onto the carriage and the position of the processing unit is important for processing, such as in an apparatus having a processing unit, which comprises a print head assembly for printing an image on a substrate.
Further, the vibrations, specifically their frequency and/or intensity, need not be constant or may vary by per device. This may for example be due to the speed with which the carriage moves over the beam or due to differences during the assembly of a device.
It is an object to provide an assembly for moving a carriage, the assembly comprising a cable carrier comprising a plurality of carrier segments, wherein dynamic vibrations of the cable carrier are reduced in a simple way.